San Francisco Frontiers - Demi Moore wins at Critics Choice with disgraced rival Gascon absent

Nineties megastar Moore's horror film "The Substance" also won best original screenplay at a glitzy Los Angeles gala held by North America's largest critics' group, which crowned "Anora" as the year's best picture.

Moore's win follows her victory at the Golden Globes in January, and puts her on track to cap a remarkable career renaissance at next month's Oscars.

"This has been such a wild ride," said Moore, 62, who made a string of hit films in the 1990s, but came to be known as much for her love life as her acting in subsequent decades.

That has changed with "The Substance," a body-horror flick about an aging celebrity who injects a serum to temporarily live again in her younger body.

Nodding to the film's frequently bloody and horrifying depictions of warped bodies, Moore thanked critics for rewarding "this genre of horror films, that are overlooked and not seen for the profundity that they can hold."

Moore's win came at the expense of Gascon, the Spanish transgender star of narco-musical "Emilia Perez" whose Oscar campaign collapsed in spectacular fashion over the past week.

Social media messages posted years ago by Gascon resurfaced in which she made derogatory and racist remarks about Muslims, China and even the Oscars themselves.

The film's distributor Netflix has since dropped Gascon from its Oscars campaign, and director Jacques Audiard disavowed his lead actor for her "absolutely hateful" and "inexcusable" comments.

Gascon was notably absent at the Critics Choice Awards, and when her name was read out among the nominees, the usually celebratory Hollywood audience fell conspicuously silent.

Moore did namecheck Gascon while thanking her fellow nominees during her acceptance speech.

But neither Audiard nor Zoe Saldana, who won best supporting actress for "Emilia Perez," mentioned Gascon in their remarks from the stage.

A Netflix representative told AFP they hoped "the actions of one person" would not "affect the whole film," which is still in the running to win best picture at the Oscars.

That race, for the most coveted Academy Award, is unusually wide-open this year.

Friday's ceremony provided a major boost for "Anora," the Cannes festival Palme d'Or winner, about a young New York stripper who marries the young son of a Russian billionaire in an ill-fated whirlwind romance.

Several other contenders also picked up key wins Friday.

"The Brutalist" star Adrien Brody won best actor, "Conclave" won best adapted screenplay and best acting ensemble, and Broadway adaptation "Wicked" earned best director for Jon M. Chu.

W.Thompson--SFF